Castletown
| |
---|---|
Olrig Parish Church, Castletown | |
Location within the Caithness area | |
Population | 810 (mid-2020 est.) [1] |
OS grid reference | ND196678 |
Civil parish | |
Council area | |
Lieutenancy area | |
Country | Scotland |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | THURSO |
Postcode district | KW14 |
Dialling code | 01847 821 |
Police | Scotland |
Fire | Scottish |
Ambulance | Scottish |
UK Parliament | |
Scottish Parliament | |
Castletown (Scottish Gaelic : Baile a' Chaisteil) is a village on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland, situated near Dunnet Bay. It is within the civil parish of Olrig, where it is the main settlement, and within the historic county of Caithness. The A836 links the village with Thurso and Tongue in the west and with John o' Groats in the east. The B876-A99 links the village with Wick in the southeast. [2] Contrary to the common misconception, the name Castletown is a misnomer as there is no castle within the village limits.
Much of the village is built on the old townland (or fermland) of Stanergill. The Stanergill Burn was the eastern boundary of the townland. It flows now through the eastern end of the village and so into Dunnet Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
The name Stanergill can be read as meaning Stone Valley and much of Castletown was built during the 19th century boom years of Caithness as a source of flagstone. Much of the stone was processed in the harbour area of the village, known as Castlehill, and many of the streets of London, Sydney, Edinburgh and the financial district of New York City are paved with it. The harbour was built by James Bremner. Castletown's main building is the 'Drill Hall'. This is mainly used for parties, discos and small clubs such as the indoor bowls. The building that was used for these functions was the 'Traill Hall', a gift to the Village by the Traill family, owners of the flagstone quarry at Castlehill. Traill House, a large and imposing country home was the residence of the Traill family. It was located in the woods at Castlehill, in later years it was owned by the Crumb-Ewing family, it became derelict after WW2 and burned down in the late 1950s. The remains of the gatehouse can be seen on the side of the A836 at Castlehill plantation.
Industry in the village included manufacture of domestic food storage freezers, under the Norfrost brand. However, the company closed in 2013; Ebac in County Durham now produce the freezers. [3]
Castletown is in the Landward Caithness ward of the Highland Council. The ward elects four councillors by the single transferable vote system of election, which produces a form of proportional representation. It is one of seven wards within the council's Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross corporate management area and one of 22 wards within the council area.
Castletown has a football team, Castletown FC, who wear a strip almost identical to the strip worn by Celtic FC. The pitch is regarded as the best in Caithness and Sutherland, and many Highland finals are held at the venue. Castletown play in the Caithness Division 2 following relegation from Division 1 in the 2014 season.
Castletown also have bowls and badminton teams who play in the local 'Drill Hall'.
Castletown has a small hotel (The Castletown Hotel, was The St Clair Hotel), a large bed and breakfast on a large property (Olrig House Country B&B), a large guest house (Greenland House), a licensed grocery, a butcher's, a fish and chip shop, a garden centre, a garage, hairdressers, a primary school with nursery and an after-school club, a drill hall, a youth club and an army cadets detachment hut. There are also two churches on Main Street: a Church of Scotland and Free Church of Scotland, where Reverend Howard Stone has led services for more than 25 years. [4] Most businesses are located on the main street, the A836.
Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the 2011 census. It shares borders with the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Moray and Perth and Kinross. Their councils, and those of Angus and Stirling, also have areas of the Scottish Highlands within their administrative boundaries.
Thurso is a town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. Situated in the historical area of Caithness, it is the northernmost town on the British mainland.
Caithness is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland.
Wick is a town and royal burgh in Caithness, in the far north of Scotland. The town straddles the River Wick and extends along both sides of Wick Bay. "Wick Locality" had a population of 6,954 at the time of the 2011 census, a decrease of 3.8% from 2001.
Lairg is a village and parish in Sutherland, Scotland. It has a population of 891 and is at the south-eastern end of Loch Shin.
Olrig is a parish in Caithness, Scotland. The main settlement in the parish is Castletown. Prior to the 19th century, the parish was sub-divided into ten townlands or "fermlands". Townland boundaries were mostly disregarded and lost during the agricultural improvements in the 19th century, but many townland names remain identifiable with farmstead names ending with Mains.
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster). It is the most northerly constituency on the British mainland. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election.
Dunnet is a village in Caithness, in the Highland area of Scotland. It is within the Parish of Dunnet.
The A836 is a major road entirely within the Highland area of Scotland. It is 122 miles (196 km) long and runs from Ross and Cromarty to Caithness, with the majority of its length in Sutherland. At 58.648°N where it passes through East Mey, it is the northernmost A-class road in mainland Great Britain.
The A99 road is entirely within the former county of Caithness in the Highland of Scotland. It runs generally north/northeast from the A9 at Latheron to Wick and to the A836 at John o' Groats. It was part of the A9 until the A9 classification was transferred to what had been the A895-A882 link between Latheron and Thurso. Between Latheron and Wick it follows, mostly, the route of one of Telford's roads.
Ross, Skye and Inverness West was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of eight constituencies in the Highlands and Islands electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to eight constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
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Ardgay /ɑːrdˈɡaɪ/ ["high wind" - see below Further reading: MacGregor] is a small Scottish village on the south west shore of the Dornoch Firth, Sutherland and is 1 mile south from Bonar Bridge and lies at the entrance to Strathcarron, the valley of the River Carron and is at the mouth of the Kyle of Sutherland.
The Sutherland and Caithness Railway was a Scottish railway company that built a line from Helmsdale, the terminus of the Duke of Sutherland's Railway to Wick and Thurso in Caithness, giving the northern towns access to Inverness. It was driven through by the efforts of the 3rd Duke of Sutherland and the engineer Joseph Mitchell in the face of apathy from interests in Wick.
Caithness, Sutherland and Ross is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament covering the northern part of the Highland council area. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It is also one of eight constituencies in the Highlands and Islands electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to eight constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Gail Elizabeth Ross is a former Scottish National Party (SNP) politician, who served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross from the election in May 2016 Up until 2021 when she decided to not seek re-election. She was a councillor on the Highland Council 2011–2016, and civic leader of Caithness 2012–2016.
The 1st Caithness Artillery Volunteers were formed in 1860 as a response to a French invasion threat. They served as a Coast Artillery unit and continued in existence as part of the Royal Garrison Artillery until being disbanded on the formation of the Territorial Force in 1908.
The North Highland Way is a 150 miles (240 km) hiking, cycling and horse riding trail in Scotland. It starts from Duncansby Head on the North East coast to Cape Wrath in the North West of Scotland's coast. The North Highland Way connects the Cape Wrath Trail in the west with the Moray Firth trail in the east. The North Coast 500 is a driving route, which follows a similar line to the North Highland Way.